BIG HISTORY: THRESHOLD 6
Primate
A member of the order of mammals appearing between 60 million and 70 million years ago that is characterized by a relatively large brain, hands with multiple movable fingers and nails instead of claws, and eyes positioned on the front of the skull
LUCY
A member of the species Australopithecine, whose bones were found and was believed to be 3 feet tall, and resemble a "walking man"
Symbolic Language
A powerful form of communication; much more powerful than communication by other animals because it can convey much more information, much more precisely
Dian Fossey
A primatologist who studied the mountain Gorillas in the country of Rwanda, Africa. Her work help raise awareness of the depleting population and resulted in new policies and manpower to protect the animals from extinction.
Neanderthal
A species of hominid very closely related to our own species, which went extinct roughly 35,000 to 30,000 years ago.
Nomadic
A way of life in which people move from place to place rather than settling in a single location; movements are often dictated by climate and availability of food sources.
Global climate change
After the ice age, _____________ made possible migration to areas that were previously inaccessible
Black Africa
All of our ancestors were ________ people living in East _______
K-T Event
An extinction event involving an asteroid hitting the Earth that opened the door for our distant mammalian ancestors, inviting them to step through and form a new niche and proliferate in most of the living world
Symbiosis
An interdependent relationship between two different species that live in close contact with one another; may be beneficial to both species, or beneficial to one but neutral or harmful to the other.
Monkeys
Bush Babies became modern ________________
Trade-offs
Choices that can be most effective but are the easiest to perform
Egalitarian Society
Early foraging societies were this type. Both the men and the women help make decisions and lead the group. Jobs are divided equally among the sexes. Consensus of the group usually would determine decisions for the entire group.
Stone tools
Early humans used _________ to hunt, butcher animals, prepare food, and work around camp.
Fire
Evidence suggests that the ability to control _______ occurred between 400,000 and 1 million years ago
400,000 and 1 million years ago
Evidence suggests that the ability to control fire occurred between _____________ years ago
Australopithecus
Extinct hominid genus, closely related to humans, that existed in Africa from about 4 million years ago to 2 million years ago.
Homo Habilis
Extinct hominine genus, closely related to humans, that existed in Africa from about 2 million years ago to 1.4 million years ago.
Homo Erectus
Extinct hominine relatives of modern humans that lived in Africa about 2 million years ago; some left Africa and journeyed to Eurasia.
The Leakeys made the first credible finds of human fossils in Africa, suggesting humans were there long ago. These discoveries, in turn, led to the studying of primates to inform our knowledge of human origins
How did the Leakeys' scientific work in Africa change our view on human origins?
There exists an incredibly complex web of cooperation between humans, domesticated animals, and plants, with humans at the center of this relationship but with both animals and plants benefiting
How do humans, animals, and plants have a symbiotic relationship?
The vocabulary within our Language
How do we communicate efficiently?
Anthropologists find links in the human story by studying different cultures, the physical traits of humans, languages, and by studying prehistory through archaeology and fossils
How does anthropology inform us about early humans?
Historical archaeology examines written records of the past; Prehistoric archaeology examines fossils from before the written record; Experimental archaeology simulates how ancient people lived; Archaeologists interact w/ other disciplines (Geologists, Paleontologists, Climatologists)
How does archaeology teach us about early humans? What are the different types of archaeology?
The flakes come off much thinner and the sharpness of the object can be refined (soft-hammer technique)
How does using a duller object such as deer bone or wood help in the flaking process?
The discovery of LUCY made people realize that humans originated from Africa and not Europe
How has the discovery of LUCY change the perspective of where humans originated from?
Human foraging is different from animal foraging because we use a wider range of skills and techniques that have been acquired through collective learning
How is foraging by humans different than animals?
They would link up with neighboring communities and experience (share) their varied lifestyles and diets
How was collective learning use for nomadic foragers?
Chimpanzees
Modern monkeys became the Great apes of which __________________ develop as well
Great Apes
Modern monkeys became the _______ ________ of which chimpanzees develop as well
Symbolic language
Most scientists and scholars consider our use of __________ as the quality that really separates humans from all other species.
Migration
Movement of people or animals from one place to another, often in search of more abundant resources
Cro-Magnon
Scientists consider the group, ________, to be similar enough anatomically to humans today that they don't even need a separate name designation.
Flakes
Sharp shards of rock that are broken off a cobble (rock) by another.
Flakes
Sharp shards of rock that are broken off by striking a cobble with another one
Collective Learning
The 6th major threshold is ____________________.
Old Stone Age
The Paleolithic Era is also known as the ______________
Fire
The ability to control and use ______ is an important skill that helped enable humans to thrive by providing a heat source that was used for cooking and protection from the cold
Thrive Cooking Protection from the cold
The ability to control and use fire is an important skill that helped enable humans to ________ by providing a heat source that was used for _______ and __________
Collective Learning
The ability to share, preserve, and build upon ideas over time
Bipedalism
The ability to walk on two rear limbs (legs)
50,000 and 60,000 years ago
The ancestors of modern humans moved from Africa to Eurasia between _________ and __________ years ago
Africa to Eurasia
The ancestors of modern humans moved from ______ to _______ between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago
Taxonomy
The branch of BIO that classifies organisms
Taxonomy
The classification of bacteria, plants, and animals into different categories and species
Culture
The customs, values, beliefs, and general patterns of behavior of a particular group of people.
Collectively learn
The distinctly human ability to _____________ sets us apart from other species
Humans
The first ___________ originated in Africa's Great Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The first humans originated in Africa's __________
Cro-Magnon
The first modern humans who lived in Europe during the Paleolithic Era about 30,000 years ago.
1.8 million years ago Homo Erectus
The first time our ancestors migrated out of Africa is thought to have been about __________ years ago when __________ traveled into Eurasia, eventually going extinct
Handles
The next phase involved the use of __________ for the tools.
Homo Sapiens
The scientific name for our species, which is thought to have evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago
Genetics
The scientific study of how traits are inherited
Archaeology
The scientific study of human activity in the past, primarily by finding and examining objects that humans created or interacted with
Anthropology
The scientific study of human beings and human culture, including beliefs, customs, and archaeological records
Primatology
The study of primates to find clues about human and animal evolution
False. Humans and monkeys took different evolutionary paths from one another 7 million years ago
True or False: Humans evolved from monkeys/chimps
True
True or False: Humans, monkeys, and chimpanzees are all primates
True
True or False: Lucy is an Australopithecines
Their tools finally showed signs of improvement and they began to venture outside of Africa, moving into parts of Asia
What new things did Homo ergaster (erectus) do?
Homo habilis
What species of our human evolution where scientists not able to find collective learning?
Threshold 6 and it is about collective learning/evolution of man
What threshold is this and what is it about?
Hand axes
What tools were created about 1.5 million years ago?
Handy-Man
What was Homo Habilis often referred to as?
They were able to make tools
What was a characteristic of Homo Habilis that convinced Louis Leakey that they were in fact "humans"?
Primitive stone tools
What was found near Homo Habilis fossils?
Early hunting and gathering humans traveled across broad areas of land in small groups. They were active and relatively healthy (there were limited infectious diseases). There was little accumulation of items and little waste. They would link up with neighboring communities and experience (share) their varied lifestyles and diets
What was life like for a nomadic forager?
Foraging
What was the dominant way of life during the Paleolithic era?
K-T Event
What was the event of the extinction of dinosaurs referred as?
Foragers had shorter work days, more leisure time, close-knit family groups, fewer diseases, healthier diets, more exercise, and greater equality between the sexes.
What were some advantages foragers had in comparison to peasant farmers or modern office workers?
1. Migration to new environments 2. Building houses 3. Creating and using a wide range of new tools 4. Making clothes
What were some of the first signs of collective learning?
Ingredients: powerful brains + precise and versatile symbolic language The Goldilocks Conditions: the interactions between individuals and communities that enabled the transfer and storage of information
What were the two ingredients and Goldilocks Conditions that led humans to the development of collective learning?
About 60,000 years ago, some of these people began to leave Africa
When did humans start migrating?
About 200,000 years ago
When did our species (home sapiens) evolve?
By studying people's genetic make-up and their genealogy, we can get more and more evidence that will tell us how people migrated over time
How can the field of genetics and genealogy be used to re-create the history of humankind?
Around the time of the LUCY discovery, there was still a great amount of racism. Africa was long ignored as a possibility of being the origin place of humans, largely because stereotypic white people didn't want to admit their ancestors were black
How come people had a hard time accepting that humans originated from Africa?
Migration took place slowly at first, then faster and faster. Humans traveled by foot and covered six continents. Our nomadic ancestors had very few possessions and carried whatever they did have
How did humans migrate? What do you say about their belongings?
The study of ancient people, their artifacts that they created and the world that they lived in
What is archaeology?
Searching for food
What is foraging and how was it used by early humans?
Traits inherited from the mother's side
What is mitochondrial DNA?
Symbolic Language
What is the most powerful form of language?
Africa was long ignored as a possibility of being the origin place of humans, largely because stereotypic white people didn't want to admit their ancestors were black
What is the significance of the "Dark Continent"?
1. LUCA 2. Dinosaur Extinction 3. Plants and animals 4. Primates 5. Apes (hominoids) 6. Great apes and chimps (hominids) 7. Bipedal primates (hominids) 8. Australopithecines (LUCY) 9. Home Habilis 10. Home Erectus 11. Neanderthal 12. Homo sapiens
What is the time order of events for threshold 6
Nomadic
What is the word for when you won't move/venture off, unless you are forced to due to climate or food?
Hunter-gatherers ate foods that contained lots of calories since they were very easy to prepare and also because the animals were very large so they could savor it. Big animals, tubers (like potatoes), and large fruits would all be attractive food options for hunter-gather
What kinds of foods would hunter-gatherers prefer and why?
Characteristics of Foraging Societies
-They were very fit and relatively free of diseases -They would link up with neighboring communities and share ideas (collectively learn) -They would change their foraging techniques based on the unique environments they lived within -They traveled with very few possessions and placed little value on acquiring "stuff" as it would just slow them down
Neanderthals
600,000-300,000 years ago, _______________ appear
Asteroid
65 million years ago, an ______ hit the earth and a mass extinction event occurred
Homo Habilis
A hominid species that originated in Africa and was the first species to make tools...often called "handy-man"
Homo Erectus
A hominin species that originated in Africa around two million years ago and migrated into Eurasia. Almost as tall as modern humans, their brains were larger than those of Homo Habilis, and they may have been able to control fire.
Paleolithic Era
A long, early era of human history that featured the creation and use of many different types of stone tools; literally means "Old Stone Age."
30,000 years ago
Ancient cave paintings, perhaps the beginnings of written language, date to more than _____________
Homo sapiens
Appeared about 200,000 years ago and is currently the final species in the evolutionary process of humans and the species to which all modern humans belong
Europe and Asia
Before, scientists used to believe that early humans evolved in __________ and ____________
Structure and authority
Hobbes believed that man needed _______ and __________ in order to meet its potential as a species
Thinking man
Homo Sapiens means ________________
Bigger brains Walk upright Tools
Homo habilis had ___________, could ___________, and could make __________
While they might have shared some information, they had not yet learned how to pass this information on through the use of a spoken language. Their tools remained the same for thousands of years, which indicates they did not do a lot of collective learning
Homo habilis, also known as "handy man," had larger brains and made tools, but evidence has shown no signs of a substantial increase in collective learning. Why not?
Nomadic foragers
Homo sapiens ancestors lived as ___________
Neanderthal
Homo sapiens' closest extinct relatives, who lived concurrently with Homo sapiens and died out about 28,000 years ago.
Collective learning
Once humans started to use ________________, we began to create, innovate, and manipulate in ways unlike any other species.
Walk on two legs
One version of chimp descendents began to ______________. We have fossil evidence of this named LUCY
Africa
Our ancestors made repeated migrations out of ______
Mole
Our ancient ancestors might have resembled something like a ___________
Louis and Mary Leakey
Part of the team that investigated Tanzania and helped to convince people that we derived from a species in Africa, not Europe
98%
Percentage wise, how much human DNA and Chip DNA are identical?
2%
Percentage wise, how unique is human DNA from Chimp DNA?
Foraging
Relying on wild (uncultivated) plants and animals for sustenance; hunting and gathering. The dominant way of life during the Paleolithic era. Quite simply: 'searching for food'
Society Corrupts our very being
Rousseau believes that ________ makes man savages and ______________
Language and efficient communication
What allowed humans to continually get better at collective learning?
1. Fairly large brains in comparison to our body mass. 2. Eyes in the front of our heads 3. Grasping hands 4. Social hierarchies 5. Family units 6. Aggressive behavior
What are some common characteristics shared by humans and other primates like chimpanzees?
Traveling to remote places throughout the globe, studying the world's cultures and people, and deciphering different languages
What are some of the things Anthropologists do to help learn about our early human ancestors?
1. Primates use tools 2. Display brutal behavior 3. Display compassionate 4. Display sharing behavior
What are some surprising discoveries that primatologists have made about primates?
The idea that 3 pieces of evidence point to when man acquired the ability to use language: 1. Evidence of making stone tools specific to regions 2. A gene that allowed humans to control the tongue 3. Fossil evidence of flexible jaws
What are the 3 pieces of evidence for when language acquisition occurred
1. Fossil Records 2. Genetic Dating 3. Studies of Modern Primates
What are the 3 types of evidence that tell us about our ancestors?
Historical archaeology Prehistoric archaeology Experimental archaeology
What are the different types of archaeology?
Work for the government, teach at a university, work for a non-profit organization, or work for a private company.
What are the options for careers in Environmental (Conservation) Science?
1. Hands and feet that can grip 2. 3-D Vision 3. Big Brains
What are the physical characteristics of early primates?
They developed "hands"
What characteristics did a "bush-baby" have that would allow it to be selected for tree living?
Africa
What continent did our homo sapiens ancestors migrate from?
Her work help raise awareness of the depleting (poaching) population and resulted in new policies and manpower to protect the animals from extinction
What contribution's did Dian Fossey's work have?
Homo habilis. They had bigger brains, were upright, and primitive stone tools are found near these fossils.
What descendents were in existence 2.3 - 1.4 million years ago?
She studied the mountain Gorillas in the country of Rwanda, Africa
What did Dian Fossey study?
That humans derived from a species in Africa and not Europe
What did Louis and Mary Leakey convince people about the origins of man?
They investigated Tanzania and helped to convince people that we derived from a species in Africa and not Europe
What did Louis and Mary Leakey do?
1. Hunt 2. Butcher animals 3. Prepare food 4. Work around camp
What did early humans used stone tools for?
1. Dig for fossils 2. Look for new sites 3. Explore and survey 4. Analyze findings
What do archaeologists do?
They study primates to find clues about human and animal evolution
What do scientists in the field of primatology do?
Man
What does "homo" mean?
Gives humans a "fighting chance" to survive the Age Of Man.
What does Conservation Science give man?
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, in what scientists refer to as the K-T event or extinction, allowed for mammals to inhabit almost all areas of the Earth
What event allowed mammals to evolve and flourish on Earth?
Their tools remained the same for thousands of years, which indicates they did not do a lot of collective learning
What evidence proves that Homo Habilis didn't share information/ collective learning with one another?
These mammals lived, hibernated, and hid under ground. This trait let them survive the blast and debris
What evidence supports the theory that our ancestors resembles moles?
An asteroid hit the earth and a mass extinction event, known as the K-T EVENT, occurred
What happened 65 million years ago?
They ventured into trees
What happened after the moles returned back to the surface after the dinosaur extinction?
1. Increased brain size 2. Reduction in size of teeth and jaws, due to varied diet
What happened to humanoids 2 million years ago?
When we "store" information, the information doesn't die for only the human that stored it does. The information accumulates overtime and gets passed on generation after generation
What is "collective memory"?
A gap in the fossil records of our ancestral line
What is a "missing link"?
Closely linked genetic variations that are inherited together
What is a 'haplotype'?
The holistic study of humankind; the study of how, when, and why humans and different cultures develop(ed) and live
What is anthropology?
Larger
Where Homo Erectus' brains larger, shorter, or the same size as Homo Habilis?
Taller
Where Homo Erectus' taller, shorter, or the same size as humans?
Africa
Where did Homo Erectus originate from?
- About 40,000 years ago, the same human community went north to what is now Europe. - About 15,000 years ago, the ice age came and humans left the northern climates and traveled south, as well as East through the Bering Strait to the Americas. - When the ice age had passed, humans re-migrated around the world
Where did humans start migrating to?
The human community evolved in East Africa
Where did the human community evolve?
The earliest recorded fossil of a Australopithecines
Who is Lucy?
Lived in Africa 4-1 million years ago, and Lucy was found who is believed to be derived from this species.
Who were the Australopithecines? Who is Lucy?
Last Universal Common Ancestor
Who/What is LUCA?
The distinctly human ability to collectively learn sets us apart from other species. Through the sharing of knowledge and our shared curiosity, as well as need for additional resources, humans have built on previous ideas and developed the ambition and the desire to push forward
Why are humans the first species to be able to migrate into all areas of the Earth and even explore into space?
Humans would go after their top food choices to the point of extinction as soon as they arrived in a new area
Why did extinctions often occur after humans settled in a particular area?
Techniques changed based on each community's particular/unique environment and the particular plants and animals in that environment
Why did foraging techniques change from community to community?
Fewer new areas to settle led to the development of communities that stayed in one place. Staying in one place meant that foraged food would eventually be exhausted - which led to farming
Why did the eventual settlement of the entire world and global climate change set humans on an entirely different trajectory from the one they have been on?
When discovered, LUCY was thought to be the oldest human fossils in existence, and providing strong evidence that humans originated in Africa. It also dated bipedalism prior to the development of bigger brains, which further connected humans to primates...
Why is 'Lucy' such an important find?
While monkeys, chimpanzees, and humans are all primates, all took different evolutionary paths, with chimps and humans branching off the evolutionary tree from each other about 7 million years ago.
Why is it wrong to say that humans evolved from monkeys or chimps?
It can convey much more information, much more precisely
Why is symbolic language the most powerful language?
Fatty foods and sweets were exceedingly rare in their environment, so when hunter-gatherers encountered them, they would drop everything to find a way to get at them since they tasted so good
Why would hunter-gatherers go to extra lengths to get foods like bone marrow, nuts, and honey?
98
______% of the genes of humans and chimps are identical.
Vocal interactions
__________ between early hominid mothers and infants sparked a sequence of events that led (eventually) to our ancestors' earliest words.
Ancient cave paintings
______________ were perhaps the beginnings of written language
Collective learning
__________________ sets the stage for the emergence of agriculture, civilizations, and the modern world.
Powerful brains and symbolic language + interactions/ sharing information between individuals and communities = Collective Learning
______________________ + ________________ = Collective Learning
